Deep Lamellar Endothelial Keratoplasty (DLEK)

Binghamton Eye Doctor Serving Elmira, Corning, Ithaca, Syracuse, Cortland, & Oneonta, NY

When your eye’s corneal tissue is damaged, it can severely impair your vision; a distortion in the corneal tissue can cause blurred vision, halos, and other refractive errors. Deep Lamellar Endothelial Keratoplasty (DLEK) is an endothelial transplant procedure that can be performed to correct corneal tissue damage.

The most often cause of corneal tissue damage is endothelial distress, caused by endothelial dystrophy or endothelial cell loss. In order to correct this problem, Dr. Sambursky can perform DLEK to correct your vision.

The DLEK vision correction procedure can be very difficult, which is why only the top ophthalmologists, like Dr. Sambursky, provide it to their patients. During a DLEK vision correction procedure, corneal cells from a tissue donor are implanted in the corneal tissue of your eye correcting eyesight problems such as Fuch’s dystrophy or corneal edema.

DLEK vision correction removes a very small, disc-shaped piece of corneal tissue from the layer of cells in the back of the cornea and replaces them with a graft of cells from a corneal tissue donor. These cells, called the endothelium, continuously flush out fluids, keeping the cornea clear, and vision unobstructed.

A DLEK vision correction procedure begins with the creation of a very small incision in the cornea. Through this incision, the back layer of endothelium cells is removed, and the new layer is implanted. The new layer is flattened and then pressed against the back of the cornea using a small bubble of air.

In the past, corneal tissue problems were corrected with Penetrating Keratoplasty (PK), a vision correction procedure that required the removal and replacement of a much larger piece of corneal tissue, stitches and up to a year of recovery time.

Unlike PK, DLEK does not require any stitches, and it does not cause astigmatism after the eye has finished healing. With a DLEK vision correction procedure, the associated recovery time is much less; vision can often return anywhere from one week to a month after the procedure.

If you are suffering from the effects of corneal tissue damage or other corneal problems, contact Dr. Sambursky in New York to schedule an initial vision correction consultation and find out if DLEK can correct your vision.